Wendell Barnhouse is a nationally-known and respected columnist who has spent over 20 years covering collegiate athletics. He has reported from 25 Final Fours and more than three dozen bowl games and has written about the Big 12 and its schools since the conference's beginning. Barnhouse will be updating the Big 12 Insider on happenings and behind-the-scenes information about the conference.

ESPN announced that it will return to downtown Fort Worth during the 2014 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in April. Two years ago ESPN anchored its coverage of Super Bowl from Sundance Square, the city’s downtown entertainment district.

The Final Four will be played at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington and crowds of close to 90,000 are expected for the semifinal and championship game. ESPN’s telecasts April 2-7 are also expected to draw thousands of fans.

“The fan turnout and engagement will make for an energetic and enthusiastic few days, especially with the new plaza as our backdrop,” Lee Fitting, ESPN’s senior coordinating producer, said in a statement.

A new public plaza will be ready for the telecasts. ESPN has been a technical adviser when the upgrade was in its design phase. The new one-acre plaza is part of Sundance Square’s $110 million expansion to the 35-block business and entertainment district that began last year and is scheduled to be completed Nov. 1.

“We’ve been cultivating a relationship all along,” Johnny Campbell, Sundance Square’s president and CEO, said. “This should be one in a sequence of big events.”

AT&T Stadium will host the first College Football Playoff championship game in 2015.